This invention relates generally to services, and, more specifically, relates to methods, apparatus and computer program products for charging for services.
Usage-based services are services that are charged by the duration of use for service units. Service units can have many different sizes. For instance, rental cars, cloud servers, telecom/conference call connections, and video streams are all examples of services units.
A customer typically reserves the service units via a packaged reservation: the customer can reserve a number of units in advance, usually for a discounted price. If the number of units in use exceeds the reservation, the extra units are charged at a higher price. The latter is called “pay as you go”. There can be different packages of different sizes, with different prices.